Halo: A Tale of Monsters
by GrumpyBear109
Summary: The Spartans are regarded as the most heroic soldiers of the Human-Covenant war, and the humans themselves are considered to be the brave defenders of their race. But war is much more then heroic last stands and valiant offensives, and in war no one side is innocent and pure. Every war has its horrors, and every horror has its monster. Which are the humans? Which are the Spartans?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

 **Date:** April 19th, 2517  
 **Time:** 0900  
 **System:** Procyon  
 **Planet:** Arcadia  
 **Location:** Serth, Lemuria  
 **Mission:** Assess and acquire potential test subject 027

Dr. Halsey took a deep gulp from the shimmering glass of water in front of her, setting it down with a satisfied sigh as the cool liquid quenched her thirst. Arcadia was one hot tropical planet, home to many exotic resorts and many more villages, each one hidden away in the sweltering depths of Arcadia's jungles.

Serth was one such settlement, a small village, crowded in on all sides by lush green flora, so much so that hacking the invading greenery back had become key occupation within the settlement.

Aside from intense heat and hordes of invading plants however, Serth was quite nice, beautiful even. With long winding gravel paths, shimmering blue lakes that fed into ponds and clear blue skies as far as the eye could see, Serth was everything everyone considered as the perfect retreat.

Halsey raised her eyes from the menu in front of her, she had chosen a small café away from the main body of Serth for her meeting, and appraised the man approaching her table.

Jacob Keyes was a fit young man in his early twenties with a short black buzz cut, that absolutely screamed military, and a strong face with handsome, yet not overly attractive features. He was wearing a white vest that shone in the brilliant morning sunlight and was darkened with sweat and cargo shorts that stopped just short of his knees.

The lieutenant sank down into the chair next to Halsey, scooped a menu up off of the table and instantly began fanning his red face. Beads of sweat hung over his temples and eventually dried against his scalp as his makeshift fan did its work. The stench of BO threatened to overwhelm Halsey.

She ignored it and cleared her throat, instantly gaining Keyes' attention. The man sat up straight at once, but slouched upon realizing his mistake. Technically speaking the two weren't even supposed to be on Arcadia, and what they were about to do was something that would never be admitted by ONI, the organization within the government that was funding.

"Glad you could make it Jacob," Halsey smiled, talking informally so as not too draw any attention to themselves "Any longer and I might have thought you were leaving me out too dry. Or roast."

"Absolutely not ma'am, I mean Catherine." The lieutenant blushed and Halsey looked away, pretending something had caught her eye.

But when she looked back she found herself staring into Keyes' eyes. After several months of travel together, something had formed between the two of them, something that Halsey didn't want to admit.

"Ahem," she coughed, clearing her throat and breaking the awkward silence "The subject? The test? Are they ready?"

"Yes ma'am! Catherine." Keyes responded, he looked down, like he was disappointed then he blinked and it was gone "They were set up yesterday by the capture team, here."

He handed her a data pad full of text, statistics and pictures. It was a profile that had been put together on Halsey's twenty seventh candidate for her Spartan II program. A program that she fervently believed would lead to the pacification of the outer colonies and bring about peace throughout the UNSC.

A giant grinning face, with messy blonde hair and sparkling green eyes, occupied the top left corner of Halsey's data pad with the identification reading: CONNOR ARMELLO. Other details were listed below it.

At six years old Connor stood a head taller then everyone else his age and his academic results revealed that he was far beyond his peers and even superiors in terms of educational achievement. Under a secondary box named NOTABLE SKILLS was the line: HIGHLY AGILE.

"Highly agile?" Halsey muttered, speaking to herself yet nonetheless gaining Keyes' attention.

"Indeed ma'am." He confirmed "Shall we initiate the test?"

Halsey was quiet for a moment before speaking.

"Yes." She said, pushing herself to her feet.

Halsey and Keyes paid cash for the drinks that they had received and left the café, taking one winding path after another through the humid settlement until they reached a large clearing maybe thirty feet across and bordered on all sides by a ten meter high cliff.

Running down the center of the cliff was a three meter wide waterfall that cascaded down into a pool of crystal blue water below. The pond extended out into the middle of the clearing and was surrounded on all sides by rocky ground, that was slick with water and dotted with large boulders.

" _The remnants of an old rock slide perhaps?_ " Halsey thought, looking at the two dozen or so children who were busy running about, jumping and splashing in the water.

Halsey walked closer and saw that the children were of all different ages, ranging from six all the way up to thirteen. That would make her subject all the more easy to pick out from the group. However, it turned out that Halsey needn't have been looking for her subject at all, as he ended up being the one who found her.

"Halt!" Cried Connor, peering down at Halsey and Keyes from atop one of the boulders "Who goes there?"

Halsey stopped and smiled up at the shirtless child, beads of water glistening on his skin, his face set in a comically ferocious expression.

"Oh no one special," She replied smiling up at the boy "I was actually hoping that one of you could help me?"

Connor was instantly groundside, having stepped off of the boulder and fallen at least a meter to the ground.

Halsey stared at him for a moment, shocked by the sudden action. Connor however, seemed to be completely oblivious of the fact that he had just fallen a meter without sustaining so much as a limp.

"Help you with what?" he asked, a bright smile on his face "Directions? People always get lost around here."

He laughed and Halsey felt a spear of guilt pierce her heart.

" _Such a friendly child,_ " She thought " _With such a pure heart._ "

Halsey banished the troubling thoughts with ease , something which would become harder and harder for her as time went by and steeled herself to the task ahead.

"No not directions," she laughed, returning his smile "I was actually wondering whether or not you could take a picture for me?"

Connor stepped back from her with a cautious look on his face.

"A picture of what?" He asked, eyeing the camera that Halsey had removed from her pocket.

"Of Serth of course." Halsey replied, seeing Connor relax at her words "From above the canopy, my fiancée are on vacation here and we wanted something special to remember the trip by."

Halsey gestured the Keyes and at the mention of fiancée his face went red. Well redder.

"Do you think you could get a picture from up there?" Halsey continued, gesturing towards the top of the cliff.

Connor followed her hand and his eyes brightened.

"No problem!" He exclaimed, snatching the camera from Halsey "I'll be right back!"

He scurried toward the cliff with delight in his eyes, leaping over rocks and scrambling up boulders before hurling himself at the cliff wall. He hit the wet wall and stuck there, somehow finding hand and foot holds despite being bombarded by the spray from the waterfall.

Connor swarmed up the cliff like some kind of monkey, swinging and leaping between different parts of the cliff to find new handholds until he finally pulled himself over the lip and onto the cliff's edge.

The six year old stood triumphant at the top of the cliff, having completed the climb in seconds, snapped a picture of the jungle clad settlement and then did a massive cannon bomb down into the pool below.

Halsey winced; the camera hadn't been waterproof.

"We're done here." She said, turning around as Connor splashed to shore.

"Ma'am?" Keyes asked, hurrying after her "Are we going ahead with the operation?"

"Yes." Halsey said, as they disappeared down the path towards Serth "Signal the capture teams. We take him tonight."


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **Date:** August 13th, 2552  
 **Time:** 26:00  
 **System:** Epsilon Eridani  
 **Planet:** Reach  
 **Location:** ONI Tower Base  
 **Mission:** Survive

 _Ka-Boom!_

The sounds of battle filled Connor's ears, the screams of the dying mixing with the ratatat of gunfire and the bubbling of fired plasma rounds. A wave of heat washed over Connor as liquid plasma splashed into the corridor.

A massive hole had been burned through the wall to Connor's left by the most recent plasma shell. A few hundred meters away the covenant had set up a group of long range Wraiths and they had spent the last few hours reducing Tower Base to a melted mess of burnt steel and blackened courtyards.

"MOVE YOUR ASS TWENTY SEVEN!" Ravi yelled, her voice still containing a hint of her Indian ancestry.

Connor, spurred on by his squad leader's rather unconventional encouragement, leapt to his feet and dived to the side as a second plasma shell came sailing through the hole in the wall and impacted with a _BOOM!_ Connor didn't stick around.

He took off at a dead sprint, accelerating to 55 kilometers an hour in under three seconds and was soon joined by his two squad mates; Ravi–009 and Sanya-105.

The green clad Spartans pelted down the corridor, their Mjolnir class armour protecting them from shards of debris that were thrown up as the Wraiths continued their deadly bombardment.

Connor stumbled and his shields flared as a plasma bolt struck his shoulder.

"Shit!" Sanya swore, as his own shields flared "we've got company!"

Connor glanced back as his shields continued to fall under an onslaught of plasma bolts. Six elites had materialized out of thin air behind them and were giving chase; their plasma rifles sending blue bolts of death whizzing towards the Spartans.

Connor's heart leapt into his throat, the Elites had them up against the wall and they knew it. Rather then close the gap between them; the Elites were sitting a safe distance behind them, running after them at a controlled lope and firing lethal plasma towards the Spartans. Between the Elites and the Wraiths, the Spartan's chances of survival were dwindling.

"This way!" Ravi yelled, kicking a metal door halfway off its hinges "We've got to get further into the base!"

Ravi sprinted on ahead, delving into Castle Base's interior facility, Sanya followed her as the hail of plasma intensified and Connor brought up the rear, swandiving through the shattered doorway as plasma shells smashed through the corridor's walls and flooded its length in a sea of plasma.

"Keep moving!" Ravi ordered, leading the way through Tower Base.

After five minutes of travel Ravi ordered a break, leading her team across an open courtyard littered with twisted, burnt bodies and into Tower Base's mess hall.

The interior of the mess hall was remarkably devoid of bodies. Most of the men must have ran out to secure weapons and ammo when the alarm had sounded and been cut down in the courtyard by Covenant fliers and artillery.

Connor and his team had also been caught without their weapons when the assault had started, a rare thing for Spartans, and he shuddered to think what would have happened he been a normal soldier like Tower Base's marines.

Six rows of four tables, each one large enough to seat ten people, ran the length of the room, separated by a wide passage that led up to the food counter up the back of the building. Plates of food, all of them stone cold, still rested upon the tables.

"Secure the perimeter," Ravi ordered, pointing to the doors they had just come in through "and keep it quiet, we don't know if those damned Elites managed to follow us or not."

Connor and Sanya nodded and began carrying the tables over to the mess hall's twin double doors, stacking them lengthways across the entrances. The tables wouldn't do much to _stop_ the Covenant, but they might slow down any Elite strike teams that came after the Spartans.

As her teammates were doing this, Ravi had hopped the food counter and gathered up a dozen or so MREs, or Meals Ready to Eat. She walked over to one of the few remaining tables and dumped the silver packages onto their surface.

She removed her helmet revealing pale brown skin and long black hair done up in a bun that was pressed to the back of her head. Her eyebrows were long and slender and beneath them her eyes were a deep, dark brown. Her cheekbones were high and, due to a string of bad luck with cryostasis tubes and lost ships, she and her team were all in their mid thirties, with at least two solid decades of combat experience under their belts.

Though Ravi was not perhaps beautiful, she was still very attractive. Or at least she would have been if it weren't for the spider web pattern of scars that started above her right brow and continued down to where her neck met her shoulder, courtesy of a marine's mistime frag grenade.

Connor in stark contrast to her had only one scar, a set of three faint claw lines that bisected his left eyebrow where a Grunt of all things had managed to scratch him. He was aside from this, and much to his dismay, pretty more then anything, with high cheekbones, thin eyebrows and bright green eyes, coupled with short yet messy blonde hair and a perfectly straight, white set of teeth.

Sanya however had both of them outmatched when it came to scars. A massive man of Russian descent, he was fiercely handsome with a strong jaw covered in just a hint of black stubble and thick eyebrows that overshadowed a pair of deep black eyes. His scars covered not just his face but also his body, and with him being the most resilient of the Spartans, he had a lot of them to show. Diagonally across his face ran a thin scar from an Elite's plasma sword, his right cheek contained a rectangular burn scar running up towards and ending at his ear. His left brow was marred by a savage scar, which ran parallel to the first and continued down to his jaw. And at the top of his right temple was a smaller version of Ravi's scar, which had been caused by a piece of shrapnel striking Sanya in the head some time ago.

"Dinner is served." Ravi announced, her accent fading noticeably as it did when she wasn't stressed "Get it while it's hot."

Connor and Sanya trudged over to the table and each Spartan took four MREs for themselves, three for eating and one for keeping. Connor tore into his first packet, tasting preserved meat and hard mash, all of it cold.

"Ugh!" he exclaimed, never taking his eyes off of the barricaded entrance "This stuff's worse then the slop they used to serve in basic."

"It not so bad," Sanya replied, speaking with the stereotypical accent that he seemed to love so much "you should taste the crap in my home town. I don't remember much about the place but I do know that the food there could kill a vulture's appetite."

Connor and Ravi chuckled, and then went back to eating. After finishing their second MRE Ravi called their attention to her.

"All right here's the plan," she began, as Connor and Sanya listened intently "the Covenant are all over this base like curry on a nan. So we've got two objectives; one, bust into the armoury and gather weapons and ammo."

Connor couldn't have agreed more with that first one. Whilst the rest of the Spartan Twos had been sent off to defend strategic locations across Reach such as the generators for the Orbital Defense Platforms, Connor and his teammates had been re allocated by ONI brass to the top secret Tower Base for a 'vital' mission.

"Two," Ravi continued "we head to the vehicle bay and procure land transport, then make our way over to New Alexandria and finish or mission."

Their mission was in fact the recovery of the city's superintendent data to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Apparently New Alexandria's superintendent had been used as a fail safe for some of ONI's more 'clandestine' projects, and with the Covenant sieging the city, that information was now in danger of falling into enemy hands.

"That's a hell of drive Rav," Sanya said, keeping his voice low and using Ravi's nickname "New Alexandria's gotta be at least seven days away by land. And how do we get off this planet once we've finished the mission?"

"Civilian evac is scheduled to start in five days," Ravi replied, finishing her third MRE " we get there in six, grab the data and hitch a ride out on one of the civilian evac birds."

"Six days is cutting it close." Connor said, pushing the empty MRE's to one side "But I suppose air is out of the question."

"Yeah, the Covenant own it," Sanya agreed "we stand a better chance of going un noticed if we travel by land."

"All right pack it up." Ravi ordered, standing up

and slipping her fourth and final MRE onto one of the clips on her Mjolnir armour's belt "We leave in – GET TO COVER!"

Ravi's accent thickened as she threw Sanya, a total of four hundred and fifty five kilograms, clear across the room.

Blue bolts of plasma slammed into the position where Sanya had been only a fraction of a second ago, melting the table's surface and throwing up sparks on impact. Connor and Ravi pulled on their helmets and scrambled to dodge the incoming fire, their shields flaring as they took hits.

Sanya landed on the far side of the room, rolled, slipped his helmet on and dived behind the food counter at the end of the building where he was quickly joined by Connor and Ravi.

Connor risked a peak over the counter and counted six Elites with plasma rifles firing at them. He ducked back behind the counter as blue bolts of death screamed towards him.

"Shit!" he exclaimed "Looks like the Elites are back, I counted six, they look like spec ops."

"Great," Sanya sighed "probably the same ones as before too. They're good, they got in here cloaked and we never even noticed."

"I noticed!" Ravi interrupted "Now come on, there's a storage locker in the back, a big freezer with metal walls that we can use for cover."

"It's a dead end in there though," Connor argued, moving towards the freezer "we going in for CQB?"

"Yep," Ravi replied as they reached the safety of the freezer "we're going to pull them in close and then beat tem to death."

"I like it," Sanya rumbled "easy to remember, even easier to do."

The three Spartans readied themselves within the confines of the steel freezer, eagerly awaiting the moment when they would be able to level the playing field.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Date:** August 13th, 2552

 **Time:** 26:30 hours

 **Planet:** Reach

 **Location:** ONI Tower Base

 **Mission:** Eradicate human resistance

The night air hummed with the sound of plasma drives as Phantoms, Ghosts and Wraiths glided over and through the human settlement, transporting brave Sangheili warriors to and from battles and scanning the damaged human keep for surviving humans.

A Phantom, it's hull curved and gleaming like the chitin of some giant purple beetle, came gliding through the night, sailing smoothly over burnt, shattered buildings and coming to a stop in the settlement's central courtyard.

The drop ship's doors folded out and down, allowing its passengers to spill out into the courtyard. A dozen Unngoy piled out of the drop ship, lugging weapons, comms equipment and other ordinance with them, shortly followed by a tall, muscular Sangheili in ornate golden armour.

Voro 'Chonchiyo, the commander of the Covenant forces laying siege to the human keep known as 'TOWER BASE', stepped out into the cool night air and assessed the situation, knowing full well that it was one thing to sit up in orbit passing judgement and another thing entirely to actually be on the front lines and make those same decisions.

The courtyard was a hub of activity, with Unggoy rushing to and fro setting up plasma barriers, weapon caches and vehicle depots at appropriate locations. Voro, like most of his Sangheili brethren, placed little trust in the small, squat aliens and had had them removed from Dagger Company, the force of soldiers that he wielded for the Prophets, as a fighting force.

Instead he had relegated them to the more menial tasks of Dagger Company's upkeep, freeing up his Sangheili warriors and improving his company's fighting prowess. In addition to that Kig-Yar were strictly forbidden from Dagger One, as Voro saw the vulture like aliens as nothing more then trouble waiting to happen.

"Pirates every on of them." Voro muttered under his breath, thinking back to darker days when he had had to serve with Kig-Yar.

In addition to this, Dagger Company had three ships in orbit, two Corvettes and one Capital ship with a Ventral beam that Voro could use to 'glass' a city, as the humans called it. Honour however, dictated that Voro met his enemy head on and eliminated as many of them as possible in glorious combat before cleansing the infestation from orbit.

In order to accomplish that Voro had ordered twenty teams of five Sangheili each to assault the human keep under the cover of night with Spirits providing close air support. The ensuing battle had been short lived yet brutal and bloody.

Thirty seven noble Sangheili had fallen to the humans, four of whom had died after refusing medical assistance and two Spirits had been shot down during one of their strafing runs. Dagger Company had had the advantage of surprise, technology and air support and the humans had still managed to inflict some serious damage on the initial wave.

Voro grunted, he had to hand it to the pink scum, even after all of their shortcomings, they knew how to fight. Just not how to win.

Voro rolled his shoulders and stepped forwards, striding through the courtyard towards it's centre where a human monument had once stood upon a raised a platform. The Unggoy in the course of their preparations however, had blasted the monument to oblivion and levelled off the platform, creating a raised area from which Voro could project his authority and manage the battle.

Sitting upon the platform, which was now more of a dais then anything else, was a large, rectangular table, it's surface a giant pane of flat, dull glass, known as the Prophet's Eye. It was a recent technological breakthrough, on loan to Dagger Company to test its effectiveness in combat.

Voro pressed a large button on the side of the table and it's glass top flared into life, a bright blue light replacing it's previous dull sheen. A three dee model of the surrounding area sprang into life on the Prophet's Eye.

Small green boxes were scattered throughout the holographic image, showing the location of friendly forces and detailing their health status and any comms that they were using. Red boxes detailed the last known location of enemy forces, their numbers and their weapons, though that was only if the Sangheili engaging them could be bothered to report such details.

At the moment there were four red boxes on the map, two down towards the base's southern end, one near the base's centre courtyard, which Voro suspected was simply a confirmation error as he was currently using the main courtyard as a base of operations, and finally there was another red box towards the base's west, near what the humans called a ' _mess hall_ '.

Voro narrowed his eyes as he saw that the closest unit to the mess hall was Dagger One, a squad comprised of five of the best warriors that Dagger Company had to offer. But something wasn't right with their read outs. Their pulses were higher then normal and they were expending ammo at a rate far faster then normal.

Voro reached out to find out more from the display but was distracted at the last minute.

"Brother!" called a Sangheili whom had just arrived on one of the Phantoms.

The new arrival was Voro's younger brother Rha.

Rha was big even by Sangheili standards, standing at well over two metres with broad shoulders and thick arms. He was clad in the slim white armour of the Sangheili special forces, a great honour for one so young.

"Much glory has been won this night!" Rha laughed, slapping Voro's shoulder "How goes the lonely post of command? Have you any other great victories up your sleeve for tonight?"

"A great victory is one in which we lose not a single warrior." Voro grunted, turning to face his brother as more Phantoms began touching down in the courtyard.

Many sections of the base had been cleared and these returning warriors were in the process of being relieved by fresh Sangheili from one of Voro's ships in orbit. He knew how dangerous fatigue was for an army, though none of his men would ever admit to being too tired to fight, and made sure to keep his fighting force as alert and as efficient as possible.

"A battle with no casualties is no battle at all." Rha countered, shooing away some Unggoy who came trotting up to offer him replacements for his weapons.

"I was not talking about battles." Voro replied, straightening up "So how went the fight? How were the enemy this time?"

"Pathetic as usual," Rha grumbled "I slew several who had decided to turn and run rather then stay and fight. Disgusting."

Voro wondered wether Rha would have stood and fought if an alien twice his size and three times his weight had been hellbent on killing him. He shook his head to clear it of such thoughts. Sympathising with the enemy was the quickest way to be viewed ass one yourself.

"And that is why they shall lose." He said, turning back to face the Prophet's Eye "It is only a matter of time now. Are you ready for another deployment?"

"Of course I am!" Rha said, sounding somewhat indignant at the question "What would you have of me?"

"Head west brother, towards the human armoury." Voro ordered, tapping the Prophet's Eye and placing a marker at Rha's objective "The surviving humans may head there for supplies. Intercept any you find and kill them."

Rha stood still, opening and closing his jaws as if he wanted to say something.

"My apologies brother," he began, choosing his words carefully "but would I not be better off hunting down the pink worms rather then waiting for them?"

"No, you would not." Voro replied, studying the battle through the Prophet's Eye.

"But-" Rha began.

Voro's patience snapped.

"Enough!" He roared, whirling to face Rha, who flinched backwards "Our enemy is more devious then you can imagine, and only patience and persistence will see them all _dead!_ Your brother I may be but I am your commander as well. Do you understand me!"

Voro stepped up close to Rha, he had to crane his neck upwards to look him in the eye, and glared at him until Rha looked away.

"Yes ship master." Rha said.

Rha turned around without another word and stomped off to find his squad. Voro breathed out and relaxed, conflicts with his brother were always tense moments and they were growing more frequent, something Voro blamed on Nixan, Rha's second in command whom had been vying for Voro's position for years.

"You did good Voro." Grumbled a deep voice "But perhaps it would have been better to send him down to eradicate the survivors in the south."

A heavily scarred Sangheili who was, amazingly, even bigger then Rha, stepped up onto the dais to join Voro. He must have just arrived as Voro hadn't seen him when he was talking to Rha.

"Garrak," Voro greeted the veteran warrior with a handshake "I did not know that you were already here. And there are but a handful of survivors in the south, they would not pose so much as a threat to my brother."

"Very true." Garrak laughed "I would have been down sooner, but all these new warriors were vying for the honour. A shame that many of the will not be able to claim it now."

"They _will_ be avenged." Voro promised, clenching his fist.

Garrak grunted and said nothing for a while.

"So come on then," he said, breaking the silence "why send your brother to guard an armoury? We both know that's a task that even an Unngoy could handle. Provided they weren't sucking narcotics when they did it."

Garrak spat his last sentence out. Like many Sangheili he thought very little of the Unggoy, often regarding them as nothing more then dogsbodies and cannon fodder.

"Which is exactly why they are not allowed to be warriors." Voro replied, motioning Garrak over to the Prophet's Eye "Besides, I have a feeling that Rha may find this to be more challenging then he thought."

Garrak pulled his jaws together in confusion and followed Voro's gesture. Dagger One's green display box was showing low ammunition levels and high heart rates. And across from their box was a red one with the number three in it.

Garrak frowned, Dagger One was the best squad that Dagger Company had to offer and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why they were taking so long to finish off three measly humans.

"I do not understand." He said, peering closer "What is holding them up?"

"I do not know, but-" Voro broke off as Dagger One's display blinked.

Voro enlarged the box, bringing up a more detailed view of the squad. Voro and Garrak both gasped as they saw that the vital signs for Jaja' Mantakrae, one of Dagger One's members, had flatlined.

"How?" Voro muttered, shocked by the fact that one of the strongest men he had ever known was now dead.

Then the unthinkable happened, another squad member flatlined, and then another and another one after that and before Voro knew what was happening Dagger One was gone. Dead on the floor of some human building.

A red rage threatened to overtake Voro but he managed to push it to the back of his head. There would be time for grieving later. But first he would have revenge.

"How?" Garrak asked, of no one in particular "How were they bested?!"

"I do not know," Voro said, dismissing Dagger One's box which had turned black to reflect their status "but if they're are survivors then they're first objective will be..."

He trailed off as a strange, ice cold sensation rippled through his body. It was fear. And not the kind of fear he was used to, this was fear for another person, fear for his younger brother Rha. Because if the humans had slain Dagger One, then they're next port of call would almost certainly be the Armoury.

"Rha?!" Voro yelled, hailing his brother on the comms "Rha come in!"

"I have you brother." Came the response, clear over the radio due to Dagger Company's dominance of the area "What is it?"

"You've for trouble headed your way," Voro said, relieved to hear his brother alive and well "big trouble. Get to the armoury, fortify it and await for reinforcements. Garrak and I are on our way."

"At once brother!" Voro replied, recognising the shift in Voro's tone and realising that his mission had just become a lot more important.

"Good!" Garrak rumbled rolling his mountainous shoulders "When I get my hands on those deceitful heretics I'm going to rip them limb from limb and _then_ start punishing them!"

Voro simply grunted in reply swiping a Plasma Repeater from an Unggoy and turning his armour's shields on.

"Suyok!" He said, calling over a slim Sangheili who wore the purple armour of an Ultra "You have command until I return, coordinate our southern forces and provide logistics to myself and my warriors."

"It will be done my lord." Suyok replied, assuming Voro's position at the Prophet's Eye.

Suyok was the best choice for leading Dagger Company after Garrak and Rha, and as such Voro felt confident leaving command to him for the time being.

Voro selected a dozen of the newly arrived Sangheili and led them away from the courtyard, towards the armoury, and as they trudged through the deserted, crumbling base that icy tingle of fear began to creep up his spine once more.

 _READING TIPS:_

 _\- Sangheili are Elites._

 _\- Unggoy are Grunts._

 _\- Kig-Yar are Jackals._

 _\- Thank you for reading, if you could take thirty seconds to just drop me a review (whether you hated it or loved it) that would be much appreciated._


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Date:** August 13th, 2552  
 **Time:** 26:30 hours  
 **Planet:** Reach  
 **Location:** ONI Tower Base  
 **Mission:** Regroup

" _Hey there! How's my favourite little sister?"_ Beamed Daniel Crasner, a young man in his twenties " _I can't believe it, only nineteen and you're already out there defending humanity from the innies, you'll be an officer before long and before I know what's happening I'll probably be taking orders from you to boot haha!"_

Lauren Crasner, Daniel's nineteen year old sister, paused his recorded message before he got to the next sentence. She could never bare to listen to it, and even now in what was most certainly her most desperate hour she still couldn't bring herself to watch it.

She thought of Daniel, her protective brother who was always there for her, yet was now millions of miles away on Earth, captaining a Frigate, and a single tear slid down her face. She brushed it away angrily and straightened up.

" _I'm a marine for god's sake!"_ She thought, scooping up her rifle and checking the safety.

But what good was a marine against alien killing machines? Two metre tall monsters with weaponry so advanced that it gave even the best egg heads headaches just thinking about it.

She shook her head again, clearing it of any depressing thoughts and strode off through the rubble of her temporary sanctuary, a plasma blasted building overlooking a courtyard, to find her CO.

Gregory Grant, the highest ranking survivor of TOWER base, was leaning over a table with a paper map spread out in front of him. Four other marines were crowded around the table as well, drawing things on the map and talking quietly.

"Ah Lauren is it?" Grant asked, when he saw Lauren approaching "Has something happened?"

"No sir," she replied, glancing at the map " I just wanted to know what the plan was."

"Well at the moment I can't tell you that because it isn't yet complete." Grant replied, as the other marines murmured anxiously amongst themselves.

Lauren nodded, she knew exactly what that meant. He didn't have a plan and he wasn't going to come up with anything great in the next five minutes. A pity because five minutes was probably all they had left.

"Sir." Lauren said, turning around and striding off.

She wasn't a fool, they would need a miracle if they were going to survive the night and she was pretty sure that they were in very short supply on Reach.

Entertainment was hard to come by in the ruins of a shattered military base, and after cleaning her rifle and checking her ammo, Lauren found that she was at a loss, and that her mind kept coming back to one thing. Death.

She didn't want to die, hell she was pretty sure that most people didn't want to die. But every time she pushed the thought out of her head, it would sneak back in, whispering scenes of bloody torture to her.

"Dammit that is NOT going to be me." She said, replacing her fear with anger.

" _But what if it is?_ " She thought, and tears welled in her eyes as she thought of what might happen to her.

She shook her head and scooped her helmet up, jamming it onto her head and taking a few deep breaths to steady her. The clock on her heads up display read 00:00. She pressed the record button on the side of her helmet.

"Just in case." She said, to both herself and to the one who may one day watch her recording "Just in case I don't make it I..."

She took a few deep breaths to steady herself as something sad yet angry, with an impossible depth to it, threatened to rise up and overwhelm her.

"I wanted to leave a message for you... Dad." Her voice cracked as old memories, none of them pleasant, began to resurface "I just wanted to say... Oh screw it."

She hit the pause button, as anger and sadness warred for control and brought her crashing down in tears. After a few moments she pushed both of them back down and locked them away behind her soldiers' discipline.

A shadow fell over her and she looked up to see another marine looking down on her. His face was a grim mask and his eyes were resigned.

"You may want to pick up that weapon of yours soldier." He said, looking up into the distance "I have a feeling you may be needing it."

Lauren's heart sped accelerated into overtime and she scrambled to her feet, grabbing her rifle up as she went.

She peered off across the broken, melted courtyard that lay to the north of the building but failed to see anything. But then she heard them.

The hum of plasma fuelled vehicles, probably Wraiths, and the loud, ugly _whort whort whort_ of the Elites, drifted across the courtyard and rolled over the marine's last place of refuge.

Lauren cocked her weapon, flicked the safety off and found herself some cover. Then she took a deep breath, levelled her rifle at a point across the courtyard and listened to the Covenant as they drew closer and closer. To her it didn't sound like an approaching army, or even an enemy force. It just sounded like The End.

Hey there guys, sorry about the wait and the length of the chapter, I promise the next one will be shorter and longer respectively. If you guys could take just a few seconds to drop me a review that would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading and have a great day!


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Date:** 13th of August 2552

 **Time:** 26:30

 **Planet:** Reach

 **Location:** Tower Base, Mess Hall

 **Mission:** Secure weapons and transport

The final Spec Ops Elite died gurgling as Sanya drew his combat knife, which was more akin to a machete by normal standards, across its neck. Purple blood spilled over the Spartan's chest as he nearly decapitated the alien, splattering onto the ground where it began to pool along with the blood from the other members of the Elite's fallen squad.

The fight had been over remarkably quickly, Ravi had torn the door from the freezer with Connor's help and then proceeded to use it as a shield whilst she closed the gap between her and the Elites.

Once among the alien warriors she had used the giant piece of now scorched metal to disrupt the squad, beating and battering the aliens to the floor, and giving Connor and Sanya the opportunity to join the fight without fear of plasma bolts and subsequent death.

After that it had been relatively easy to finish off the stunned and surprised squad, liberating them of both their weapons and their lives at the same time.

"Radio silence from now on," Ravi ordered, as she inspected her newly acquired, and nearly depleted, plasma rifle "hand signals only unless its urgent."

Sanya and Connor both signalled their acknowledgement, taking up positions by the front of the mess hall and scanning the courtyard beyond with their weapons.

"Our first objective is the armoury, then the vehicle depot attached to it." Ravi stated, summarising their earlier conversation "Connor, lead the way and only engage if it is absolutely necessary."

Connor nodded and disappeared out into the courtyard, moving quickly yet smoothly, checking every angle and approach with his plasma rifle as he went. He stuck to the shadows and any pieces of cover he could find, relying on darkness and wreckage to shield him from sight and potential sniper fire.

Ravi and Sanya followed behind him, double and triple checking all of the same approaches as they went, and in theory any new ones that the Spartan before them may have missed, travelling in a staggered formation with a ten or so meter gap between each of them.

They moved through the shattered base like phantoms, silent and surreal in the dim light of the moon and the glare of plasma fuelled fires. They passed through courtyards and halls and whole buildings that were choked with bodies, blood and death, never pausing to check for vitals or signs of life.

At one point the sound of gunfire, human gunfire, rattled out from some distant part of the base, and Connor paused to hold his hand out in a fist with his thumb crooked above it, the Spartan hand signal for a question mark.

Ravi merely shook her head in response and made a series of hand signals to indicate that they should keep moving.

Three times along their way they had to scramble for deep patches of shadow and large balustrades to hide their presence from patrols which, strangely, were always composed entirely of Elites. Never once did they see a Grunt or a Jackal, and though they all knew of the Elite's disdain for the lower races in the Covenant Hierarchy, they had never known that to prevent the aliens from fighting together on the battlefield.

They eventually reached the armoury, a building with large metal, reinforced doors that was attached to a larger, blockier building, with larger, blockier doors: the motor pool.

There was a row of once green decorative flora running parallel to the building and Connor came to a stop next to it, hunkering down near a blackened tree and it's melted concrete casing a dozen meters from the Armoury's doors. Ravi and Sanya took up similar positions, hiding themselves in shadow and sheltering themselves as best they could with the showy, yet flimsy and thin, trunks of trees and bushes.

Sanya was watching their flanks whilst Connor and Ravi surveyed the two damaged buildings, taking special note of the motor pool's twisted and disfigured roller doors that would make exit via any vehicle other then a Scorpion Tank impossible.

It was eerily quiet, with nothing but the wind to fill the silence other then the occasional burst of far off, sporadic gunfire. After a moment of careful contemplation, Ravi spoke.

"Move in, Connor's on transport, I'll get the weapons, Sanya watch our backs." She ordered, her team mates moving to obey before she'd even finished speaking.

They mounted the steps to the armoury and passed through its broken doors, leaving the corpse that was slumped against them undisturbed, and split into three different directions.

Connor headed left, through a side door and into the motor pool, whilst Ravi went straight to one of the rows of mostly empty weapons shelves. Sanya took up position by the doors, sticking to the shadows once again and keeping a careful eye on the outer approach.

Ravi made it to the shelves and began to rifle through them, pulling assault rifles, pistols and even one shotgun that had somehow been overlooked, from them. She threw the shotgun and an assault rifle to Sanya, who deftly snatched them out of the air before holstering the shotgun on his back's magnetic mount and loading the rifle with one of the magazines that Ravi was now handing out.

"We've got no shells for the shotgun," Ravi informed him, holstering the assault rifle that was to be Connor's before loading her own "and no time to search for them. Keep our backs covered."

Sanya nodded and the two of them retreated further into the armoury, heading for the motor pool to meet up with Connor, and once inside Sanya again positioned himself so that he could observe the doors through which they had entered.

"What have you got for us Twenty-Seven?" Ravi asked, unhitching the rifle from her back and tossing to it to Connor "I hope it isn't that."

She gestured at the massive Scorpion class battle tank that Connor sat upon, leaning into the cockpit so that he could fiddle with its controls. Fifty tonnes of armour and a pair of treads would never be able to outrun a Covenant invasion force.

"No ma'am," Connor replied, grinning under his helmet "I just need to rig it's firing mechanism so that we can remote fire it."

He finished by hauling loose a length of wire from the cockpit and gesturing at the half wrecked roller doors set into the buildings front.

"We'll never make it through that in a warthog," he continued, as a light began to flash in Ravi's HUD "but now we can load up, blow it from a distance and be on our way before the Covenant has a chance to come ca-"

"Movement at the entrance." Sanya cut in, speaking over the squad's TeamSpeak radio "Possible cloaked Elites."

"Roger that," Ravi said, already moving for cover "pull back to a defensible position, keep something solid at your back and head for the Warthog behind the Scorpion."

Green status lights winked on her HUD, informing her that both Connor and Sanya had heard and acknowledged her.

Connor picked up and loaded his new rifle in one smooth movement and slid off of the Scorpion, landing silently before disappearing into the shadows. Sanya was barely visible in the low, half-light through which he slunk and Ravi had already disappeared around the side of the tank.

For a while the only sound audible was the ominous creaking of machinery and the sound of distant scattered gunfire, the air hung still and was full of a fragile silence. A silence that was shattered moments later.

Sanya made a silent dash from one piece of cover to the next, crossing a stray beam of moonlight as he went. But the moment the light touched upon him was the exact opportunity that his enemy had been waiting for. A clear shot.

 _Thunkthunkthunkthunk!_

The pulsing sound of a plasma rifle being fired filled the room, and blue streaks of death sped across the dark space, slamming into vehicles and filling the air with the acrid smell of burnt metal.

Two rounds struck Sanya, though the rest swung wide and missed him, splattering harmlessly against the chassis of a nearby Warthog whose wheels were still locked down by heavy-duty floor clamps.

Sanya's shields flared and held, dropping to fifty percent, and he hurled himself forwards, diving behind a Warthog and rolling to his feet in one fluid motion. He raised his head and weapon over the bonnet and was treated to the strangely surreal sight of an Elite in the midst of de-cloaking in the middle of a pool of white moonlight.

" _That would make a great painting._ " He thought to himself, before pulling the trigger and filling the alien's torso with red-hot lead.

"Target down." He spoke into his radio, as the Elite squirmed in a pool of purple blood "Sweeping and clearing."

"Roger that." Ravi's response came "You take the lower levels, I'll take the higher ones. Connor's readying our transport, watch his back."

"Got it." Sanya replied, hearing a soft scoff from Connor.

He grinned under his helmet as he and Connor flashed their green status lights, and then the entire room erupted in a sea of blue fire.

* * *

 **Author'** **s Note: Hey guys thanks for reading, it has been an age since I was on here last and even longer since I updated this story. I'm glad to say however, that I have plan for it and exams coming up so I'm looking for lots of opportunities to procrastinate.**

 **Anyway, I'll keep updating this story until I either finish it or run out of time, and if you could take a short few minutes to leave a review telling me whether or not you loved it or hated it then that would be much appreciated.**

 **Thanks for reading and I'll see you all next time.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Date:** 13th of August 2552

 **Time:** 00:00

 **Planet:** Reach

 **Location:** Tower Base, Armoury

 **Mission:** Secure human munitions depot

Rha swore and raged within the safety of his mind as he saw Ito 'Nusum go down under the Demon's impossibly fast counter attack. The green heretic had taken two direct shots and yet was somehow unscathed. And what's more, it had managed to kill Ito before he was even halfway de-cloaked.

Rha shook his head and then stared wide eyed in disbelief. The Demon was gone. He

squinted harder just in case it was hidden in the darkness as it had been before and found that it was definitely gone.

"Your orders commander?" Nixan 'Gadomai, Rha's second in command, asked.

There was unease in his voice, and though Rha hated to admit it, he himself was feeling a little more then uneasy. He was feeling scared. A Demon was here, and not just one but three.

When he had first seen them creeping through the munitions bay he hadn't believed his own eyes, especially given the way they had ghosted before them. But after a double check and a triple check he was sure, and he had ordered his warriors to surround them.

They had been lining up the perfect shot when Xula 'Vutam had crossed open ground, cloaked but still detectable, and alerted the Demons to their presence. Voro had turned to berate the idiotic warrior for less then a second and when he had turned back to survey the scene the Demons had disappeared.

Then Ito had made the mistake of opening fire upon one that he had spotted in the shadows and had lost his life for it. Rha berated himself for not having handled his troops better, Ito had been a good friend and a loyal warrior, but now he was choking to death on his own blood.

"Rha!" Nixan hissed, pulling Rha back to his senses.

"All warriors on the upper level, open fire and suppress the Demon's last known positions." Rha ordered, de-cloaking so that the warriors on the upper level could spot him and his squad "All warriors on the lower levels will sweep and clear. De-cloak and engage."

Six voices came back to him over the radio, each one echoing his order and it's owner's acknowledgement. Then the shooting began and Rha's ears were filled with the sound of plasma rifles and the sizzling of metal.

The room was alight with streaks of blue plasma that drew glowing lines through the darkness, blanketing the human tank and the area where the Demon had fired from, and reducing them both to blackened, charred husks.

After a few seconds the Sangheili warriors let up their attack and Voro and his warriors moved in, cautiously searching the rows of human vehicles for flashes of the Demons' green armour.

Voro swept his rifle from left to right, checking every hidden recess and every patch of shadow, finding nothing every time he did so. After a tense few minutes of fruitless searching he decided to try a new tactic.

"Ozo," he said, radioing the leader of his warriors above "suppress every region that we are not currently searching. Flush them out brother."

"Yes sir." Ozo replied, and a second later blue plasma began to streak down in short, controlled bursts.

Rha nodded to himself, content with his strategy, before realising something that made his blood run cold. He had just signalled himself out as the squad leader, and the Demons would not have missed that.

And then, as if on cue, a Demon came barrelling out of the darkness of a nearby Warthog, one that Rha was sure he had already checked. The Demon slammed into him with more force then he could have imagined and sent him sprawling to the ground, winded and weaponless.

Rha looked up in time to see the Demon levelling it's primitive weapon at Jupo 'Vadomai, a young Sangheili who was one of the most skilled swordsmen Rha had ever seen.

Rha yelled a warning but the Demon was already firing it's weapon, drowning out Rha's cries with its harsh bark. Jupo went down under the onslaught of bullets, trailing blood and broken bone as he spun and crumpled to the ground, and Rha roared his anger.

He surged up, practically leaping off of the ground, and charged the Demon. He pulled his energy sword from his hip and thumbed the activation button, calling it to life even as he swung it.

The Demon however, was far faster then he had believed and it spun to meet Rha, ducking under his attack before whipping it's armoured elbow up into Rha's mouth, shattering his shields. The Sangheili's head snapped backwards and he went down hard, blood and broken teeth falling from his mouth.

Rha's sword spun from his grasp as his helmet clad head bounced off of the hard ground and he groaned in pain as the world spun and twisted in upon itself. He was dimly aware of someone, or perhaps several someone's, shouting his name, as a green blur stepped into his vision and levelled something at him.

 _Bangbangbang!_

The world snapped back into focus as Nixan tackled the Demon from behind, dragging the muzzle of it's weapon up and away, saving Rha's life. The two went down in a tangle of limbs and as Rha hauled himself to his feet he saw the Demon somehow twist it's way free of Nixan's grasp and land several debilitatingly painful blows to the warrior's legs and chest.

It then struck the warrior hard in the face and sent him spinning to the floor as Rha readied himself for a second charge, then realised that with Nixan out of the way, Ozo would have a clear shot from above.

The Demon must have realised this as well because no sooner had it dealt with Nixan then it was coming for Rha, covering the ground between them with blinding speed and launching a vicious flying knee that Rha only managed to somewhat block.

He stumbled backwards, his head throbbing, and heard harsh human gunfire erupt behind him as the Demon delivered a blow to his stomach that was so hard it caused him to lose his lunch. Something that he would deny had ever happened till the day he died.

Rha pushed the pain to the back of his mind and rolled sideways, avoiding a curb stomp that would have pulverised his head by inches. He scrambled to his feet, breathing hard, yet deep and controlled, and lunged at the Demon.

The two met and grappled, but rather then try to outmanoeuvre or bind the Demon, Rha merely used his larger size and strength to hurl the Demon sideways into a human vehicle, shattering its windscreen and denting its bonnet.

He then took a brief moment to glance back at Ozo and his Sangheili on the upper levels and was horrified to see that they were lying dead, raining blood down onto the floor below from their various bullet wounds, and that Ozo himself was wrestling with a second Demon.

"Nixan!" Rha roared, as the first Demon came at him again "Help Ozo!"

The wounded warrior stumbled off to obey Rha's orders and Rha returned his attention to the first Demon. The figure weaved it's way across the floor, launching itself skyward at the last second before delivering a superman punch that connected with Rha's raised forearms, shattering his shields and denting his arm guards.

Rha growled at the pain that accompanied this latest attack and tried to get a hold of the Demon once again, this time intending to simply crush the life from it rather then toss it aside. But the Demon danced and twisted its way out of his grip, spinning around behind him and slinging its arms around his waist.

Rha grunted disdainfully and dropped his weight, he was big even by Sangheili standards, and he thoroughly believed that there wasn't a human alive who could-

He yelped in surprise as his feet left the ground and he was hurled head over heels to land painfully on his back, for the Demon had certainly underestimated his weight and had lost its grip in the middle of the manoeuvre, thus failing to dump Rha on his head. Something which would have proved fatal.

Rha scrambled to his feet, winded and aching, and saw Ozo fending the second Demon off with desperate swings of his energy sword, slicing the surrounding catwalk to pieces as he went. Nixan was creeping up behind the second Demon, but just as he was about to strike the catwalk gave way and the three figures tumbled to the ground amidst a landslide of glowing hot metal.

 _Crash boom clang!_

The harsh clatter of falling metal drew the first Demon's attention and Rha took the opportunity to deliver a massive hook punch to its head, shattering its shields and spinning it sideways.

The Demon went down and Rha stomped hard on its back, drawing a grunt of pain from it and denting its un-shielded armour. Then he stooped to pick it up, wrapping one hand around its neck and heaving with all his might.

It was certainly a struggle, for the Demon weighed many times more then a normal human, but Rha managed, and he turned its gold faceplate towards himself.

"Brother!" Came a sudden voice, one that Rha recognised as belonging to Voro "Brother can you hear me?! There is something dangerous heading for the munitions dump!"

Rha's radio continued to buzz as Voro, his brother, spoke to him of Dagger One's demise and the 'unknown' danger that they were yet to face, instructing him to secure the human's munitions dump.

"I am on the way with Garrak, we're almost there!" Voro continued "Just hold on for-"

"It is ok Voro," Rha interrupted, shaking the Demon roughly as it grasped at his hand "we have secured the human's munitions dump and found Dagger One's murderers."

"What?! Excellent!" Voro replied, relief evident in his voice "What were they?"

"A duo of pathetic, little, Demons." Rha growled, grinning down at the struggling green figure.

A short, stunned silence followed Rha's statement, one in which he imagined both his brother and the behemoth Garrak standing silent with shock.

"A duo?" Came Voro's reply, his voice full of nothing but suspicion and unease "Only two, are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Rha growled in frustration, his arm was beginning to ache "One has been subdued by Nixan and Ozo and I hold the other in my very hands!"

"SUBDUED?!" Voro yelled, his voice trembling with rage "Rha you fool! Dagger-One was killed by three unknown targets! There's a third Demon you idiot. Kill the two you hold and find it! If you-"

All concern for Voro's anger left Rha's mind as the Demon in his hands suddenly twisted its body up before planting it's boots on his chest, driving every breath of air from his body and sending him spinning across the room.

Rha landed with a grunt and let out a pathetic groan before struggling to his feet. He stumbled left and right before fetching up against a human vehicle where he proceeded to wheeze and cough, looking around in time to see Ozo take a vicious blow to the side of his head from the second Demon.

Nixan was nowhere in sight and the first Demon was backing away from Rha, heading for the shadows on the far side of the room. Rha growled and pushed himself off of the vehicle, heading for the Demon with laboured steps as his breath came in heavy gasps.

When he was halfway across the room he could take it no longer and he collapsed to the floor, his head spinning and his chest burning. Yet still the Demon continued to back away, retreating to the far wall before disappearing into the darkness.

And then Rha found out why. Immediately to his right sat a human vehicle. One that they called a Scorpion Class Tank. And sitting on its scorched chassis, fiddling with the burnt controls in the cockpit, was the third Demon.

And then the world erupted in flames.

 **Authors Note: Cheers for reading guys, next update should be soon (technically it's already written, I just have to find the time to upload it haha). In the meantime, if I could ask for thirty seconds of your time to tell me what you thought of this latest chapter that would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Date:** 13th of August 2552

 **Time:** 00:15

 **Planet:** Reach

 **Location:** Tower Base, Armoury

 **Mission:** Reinforce and hold human munitions depot

"Rha?! Rha?!" Voro yelled into his headset, as he sprinted towards the human armoury.

Twelve Sangheili warriors, including Garrak, ran alongside him, weaving their way throughout the shattered remains of Tower Base without bothering to check their surroundings for enemies, knowing full well that they owned the entire base save for two locations.

They were all battle hardened warriors but even so, the pace that Voro had set out of fear for his brother was driving them all to exhaustion, and so it was in fact a relief for many of them when they finally arrived at the Demon filled armoury, as it meant that they finally had a chance to stop and catch their breath.

Voro gave the order to spread out in a line, ordering Garrak and five others to keep the entrance to the armoury covered while he and the remaining warriors advanced towards it.

They went cautiously, keeping their rifles trained on the Armoury's doors and the vehicle depot's broken roller doors, through which nothing but silence and darkness could be seen. Once they were less then a few metres away from the entrance Voro decided to try Rha's radio again.

"Brother? Can you hear me?" He asked, holding his hand up to halt his warrior's advance "Respond Rha, that is a direct command."

He was met with the crackling silence of an untended radio, something that caused Voro's heart to jump into his throat. If Rha was dead, if his brother had perished then-

The crackle of the radio subsided and gave way to the sound of Rha breathing in big, ragged gasps. Voro let out a small sigh of relief, that is until Rha gave out what sounded like a grunt of pain, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground.

"Move in!" Voro yelled, practically leaping forwards and bounding up the steps.

 _KABOOM!_

The roller doors to the vehicle depot exploded outwards, obliterating the three Sangheili that had been on Voro's left in a storm of fire and jagged metal. A sea of angry flames boiled forth and swept Voro and his remaining warriors up in a wave of heat and concussive force that shattered their shields and hurled them backwards.

Voro crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs as he collided with another Sangheili in midair. The heat was burning his skin and his ears rang from the force of the blast, causing his head to spin so much that he almost missed the Warthog that came rocketing out of the smouldering, ruined doors of the vehicle depot.

The ugly human vehicle crashed down onto all fours before mounting the flaming row of pot plants and decorative trees that lay before the armoury. The vehicle's engine growled and its tires spun as it shot forwards, sending two Sangheili warriors flying off of its hood as it crashed through Garrak's line of warriors before disappearing down one of the roads that led away from the armoury.

Something buzzed in Voro's ear and he was vaguely aware of someone shouting his name. His vision was dark and blurry and tinged with the red glow of fire and he could smell nothing but smoke, ash and the stench burning flesh.

All around him was noise, an indiscriminate smear of raised voices, crackling flames and sizzling flesh. Blurry shapes passed back and forth across his vision, backlit by a curtain of yellow and red and as he watched his vision began to fail him as his mind and body shied away from the injuries that they had sustained.

A grip like iron closed around his bicep and he was pulled from the ground, away from the blistering heat and the disconcertingly still body that he had been lying upon, allowing him a brief, blissful respite before the darkness overcame him and everything went black.

 **Author's Note: Cheers for reading guys, apologies in advance as the next two or so chapters are a bit short. They should be up over the next week or so and if you enjoyed them then please feel free to leave me a review to let me know how I can improve.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Date:** 13th of August 2552

 **Time:** 00:15

 **Planet:** Reach

 **Location:** Tower Base, Armoury

 **Mission:** Evacuate from Tower Base

Connor slammed his boot down onto the accelerator and the Warthog roared forwards, fish-tailing its way around the Scorpion that Connor had had to re-rig after the Elites had hammered it with plasma.

Sanya and Ravi were already on board, manning the gun and the passenger seat respectively and they all gripped whatever was at hand, whether that was a railing on the dashboard or the handle of their weapon, as Connor gunned the engine and sent them sailing through the flaming mess that were once the Vehicle Bay's roller doors.

Their shields flared and held as a wave of intense heat washed over them, which they then left behind as the Warthog passed through the fires and landed in the courtyard outside.

A line of disorganised Elites was scattered behind the decorative flora, most of which was now on fire, and Connor twisted the steering wheel, mounting the row of potted plants before ploughing through the alien line, bouncing two of the heavy set aliens off of the Warthog's hood and crushing their bodies beneath its wheels before any of them had a chance to react.

He swung the car around to face a road leading out of the courtyard, and away from the Elites, and pressed his foot down on the accelerator. The car jumped forwards, spinning blood and broken bodies out from underneath it, and they took off down the road before any of the Elites could respond.

Shattered buildings and molten street signs flew past in a blur as the Spartans sped down the cracked and boiled roads of Tower Base, swerving occasionally and decelerating rarely to avoid piles of bodies and debris.

Connor took a series of lefts and rights, working his way deeper into Tower Base before doubling back on himself and heading back out towards the fringes, hoping to confuse any would be pursuers.

"All right that's enough," Ravi said, after several minutes of driving "take us towards the Southern Gate, our schedule is tight and we can't afford to waste any time."

"Yes ma'am." Connor said, chuckling as he drifted the Warthog expertly around a looping bend, he had always loved driving.

They took two lefts and a right, avoiding the major roads of Tower Base, and kept a calm, disciplined vigil as they went. Sanya scanned every window and rooftop with the barrel of his massive chaingun, and Ravi covered everything else with her rifle.

At one point a duo of Elite Rangers took a shot at the Spartans from a nearby overpass, blowing a hole in the windscreen with a high density needle round that had then shattered itself on Connor's shields.

"Shit! Contact!" He had yelled, jerking the wheel left and right to avoid further fire.

Though he needn't have bothered as no sooner had the shot been fired then Sanya was blanketing the overpass with a stream of white-hot tracer fire, taking the Rangers down in a hail of blood and bullets.

After that Ravi had ordered a break.

"Pull over," She said, patting Connor's shoulder and pointing to a patch of shadows near the side of the road "we need eyes on the Southern Entrance and I can hear gunfire. We need to know what's happening."

Connor winked his green status light in acknowledgement, eyeing his shield bar and shuddering upon seeing how close they had come to breaking: fifteen percent.

He switched the engine off and rolled them the rest of the way into the darkness, marvelling at how odd it felt to sit in a Warthog and not hear and feel it growling like an animal.

The car came to a halt and they all piled out, un-holstering their weapons and keeping a wary eye on the rooftops whilst seeking any tall standing shelter that they could find, eventually settling for crouching behind the Warthog.

Ravi held up her hand for silence and made the signal for listen. Connor and Sanya both strained their ears, and eventually picked up the distant ratatat-tat of small arms fire.

"Sounds like assault rifles," Connor murmured, titling his head to one side "MA5C's maybe, possibly a few Magnums..."

 _Boom!_

The ground shuddered beneath their feet as a cloud of flame and smoke mushroomed its way skyward, illuminating the low hanging clouds that were gathering over by the Southern Entrance.

"Da," Sanya chuckled "and that was probably one of the gas tanks that we keep for refuelling."

"We need eyes on that situation, I want to know how bad it is before we try and charge our way through it." Ravi said, slipping out from behind the Warthog "With any luck we can use the battle to cover our escape, hopefully the Elites will be too busy with whoever is left to worry about us."

"We're just going to leave them?" Connor asked, as he and Sanya followed Ravi into a nearby building.

"Yes." Ravi replied, checking corridors and doorways as she led her squad through the darkened building "Anyone who hasn't already left this base is dead already, we might be Spartans but we can't hold off an entire Covenant Taskforce. Our mission is too important for us to die here."

Connor didn't reply, it wasn't the first time that they had left marines to die, in fact half of the time when they were ordered to accomplish some high risk objective it involved leading a squad of marines into certain death, and the other half involved evacuating on a Pelican or a Long Sword and leaving a battalion behind to fend the next wave of enemies off by itself.

Either way marines always died around Spartans, so what difference did it make if they were leading them or leaving them, either way they were dead in the end.

"And at least this way we can still do something that matters." Connor thought, thinking about the horrors that would occur if the Covenant got its hands on the New Alexandrian Superintendent's data.

The trio reached a row of broken windows that overlooked the Southern Entrance; a massive courtyard full of obliterated guard houses, broken security fences and charred corpses, all divided by a single, straight road that led out of what was once a state of the art security gate, yet was now a gaping hole of twisted, burnt metal.

Tracer fire and plasma streaked across the courtyard, cutting through the night in white hot lines and blinding blue lances. Explosions scarred the earth and the fiery husks of vehicles and buildings lit the ground.

The screams of the dying echoed up from the battle, drifting through the windows before being drowned out by explosions, gunfire and the desperately bellowed orders of a CO who knows his battle is lost.

The Spartans crouched and observed the battle for maybe fifteen seconds before withdrawing as one, moving fast back the way that they had come.

"We need to move if we want that battle to be of any use to us." Ravi said, as they descended a flight of stairs five at a time.

"Da," Sanya grunted, as they burst into a ground floor lobby "those marines will not last much longer. There are too many Elites."

They a set of doors that led outside and paused to check the rooftops through a few nearby windows. After the all clear was given they opened the doors and filed out, keeping every possible angle of approach covered with their weapons before reaching the Warthog. They piled in, resuming their former positions before Connor brought the Warthog to life.

"So how do we play this?" He asked, twisting the wheel and hitting the gas "Skirt the edges of the battle until the last minute? Use the marines' line as cover and drive behind them?"

"Neither." Ravi replied, checking to make sure her assault rifle was loaded "We cut a path straight through them, right down the middle."

Beneath his helmet Connor smiled, they weren't going to save the marines, but they sure as hell were going to send them out with a bang.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Date:** 13th of August 2552

 **Time:** 00:35

 **Planet:** Reach

 **Location:** Tower Base, Southern Entrance

 **Mission:** Hold the line

 _Boom!_

Clumps of earth and plasma-boiled flesh rained down on Lauren's head, bouncing off of her helmet and falling down upon her shoulders. She gasped and wheezed, rolling first one way and then the other as an Elite sprayed a hail of blue plasma at her.

 _ThunkThunk! Sizzle! Pop!_

The ground bubbled and boiled around her as shards of broken glass, heated by pools of cooling plasma, glowed red hot and exploded. Her elbow flared with pain as she rolled through one of these pools, and she yelled as she stumbled to her feet.

Ten metres away sat an Elite, a towering alien monster with a technological marvel of death gripped in its three fingered hand. It was sitting in no mans land, seeking no cover save for its energy shields to protect it from incoming fire.

With her breath coming in ragged, fearful gasps, Lauren sighted her weapon on the Elite and squeezed the trigger.

 _Blamblamblamblamblamblam!_

The recoil and the noise nearly caused Lauren to drop the weapon in fright. The Elite's shields flared a bright yellow as some of Lauren's bullets found their mark, striking it's chest and sending it stumbling backwards, where she lost sight of it amidst the chaos of the battle.

She did not pursue it, and instead turned on her heel and ran back towards her own line, which had been pushed back a despairingly far amount.

They had lost the main road and most of the guard houses as well, and were now trying desperately to hold onto the refuelling station. Someone, or something, had detonated one of the massive red fuel tanks there a few moments earlier, and now the area was lit in the hellish red of savage flames.

Lauren somehow made it back to her line alive, though a group of marines nearly shot her on sight as she came stumbling towards them. They waved at her and called her over, but it didn't matter as their cries were drowned out a moment later when a plasma shell slammed down, melting the flesh from their bones and searing their final, dying moments into Lauren's eyes.

Heat washed over her and she fell to her knees as great racking sobs began to tear their way free from her chest.

All around her was death, people screamed and clawed at bloodied stumps that had been seared shut from boiling hot plasma, more lay still on the ground as their friends used their corpses for cover and others still somehow managed to press on, firing their rifles and their pistols with looks of grim determination on their faces.

The smell of charred flesh clogged the air and her ears could hear nothing but dying screams and the ugly laugh of alien monsters. The ground trembled with the force of encroaching explosions as the air was split with incoming enemy fire.

Lauren raised her hands, trembling with shock and fear, and hit the play button on the side of her helmet.

"Hey there! How's my favourite little sister?" Daniel Crasner's happy voice filled Lauren's ears, drowning out the horrors around her.

She closed her eyes, shutting out the battle that was raging around her and somehow managed to calm herself as her brother praised her for her promotion and her bravery.

"Now I know you and dad have had your issues," Daniel said, and Lauren's breath caught in her throat.

She had never been able to bring herself to listen to this part, and in the chaos of the battle she hadn't thought to pause the recording. She needn't have bothered though, as a shadow fell over her, darkening her vision, and she opened her eyes to see a purple Elite, slimmer then most of its brethren yet still massive by human standards, towering over her.

It regarded her with a steady gaze, one filled with disdain, anger and even what seemed to be a slight amount of respect. Lauren for the most part just stared back, her shoulders shaking as the recording of her brother played in the background.

The Elite raised it's arm, an energy dagger flaring to life upon its wrist, and drove it forwards and down.

The ground around the Elite's feet exploded as Warthog came barreling onto the main road, spraying the surrounding area with High-Impact rounds from its massive chaingun. The Elite's shields flared and gave out, and the alien roared in pain as a round clipped its shoulder, spinning it sideways and covering Lauren in purple blood.

She jumped sideways as the monster slammed into the ground, and turned to face the Warthog, catching a glimpse of something big blocky and human behind the wheel before it broke through the enemy lines at the Southern Entrance and roared off into the night.

The brief glimmer of hope that she had felt sputtered and died out, and she felt despair and hopelessness close in as the wounded Elite hauled itself to it's feet. She stood to face it, shouldering her rifle and sighing as Daniel continued to reassure her that she could repair her relationship with her father.

"He loves you," Daniel said, his voice full of warmth and affection "he'll come around. Just give him time."

Lauren sighed and pulled her helmet from her head, tossing it to the ground as the Elite watched her, waiting patiently despite the battle that was being fought in the background.

An explosion sounded from somewhere nearby and a ragged cheer went up from some of Lauren's comrades. She knew that for them it might have seemed like a victory, but for her, it just sounded like the end.

She looked up into the Elite's beady black eyes and to her surprise, it nodded at her.

"What have I got to lose?" She thought.

So she nodded back, raised her rifle and squeezed the trigger.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **Date:** 15th of August 2552

 **Time:** 09:00

 **Planet:** Reach

 **Location:** Tower Base, Central Courtyard

 **Mission:** Assess the situation

"We kill them! That's what we do!" Screamed a voice, one that was full of rage "That is our way!"

"We kill our enemies on the battlefield!" Retorted another, and though it too was full of anger, it was also fit to bursting with disgust "We do not murder helpless vermin, no matter how heretical they are!"

"Vermin _exist_ to be exterminated, you would let such filth live simply because you are a-"

"WARRIOR!" Screamed the second, and there was a screech and a crash as something was knocked to the floor.

Voro groaned and opened his eyes, squinting them against the sudden light that assaulted them. He rolled over on his makeshift bed, an unnaturally uncomfortable piece of furniture, and was greeted to a strange sight indeed.

He was back at Dagger Company's field headquarters, the Central courtyard of the human military base. Suyok, the slim Sangheili that Voro had left in charge, was busy having a heated argument with Rha whilst several others looked on.

"I am a warrior!" Suyok yelled, slightly more controlled the second time around "I fight with honour! You would have me slaughter weaponless, defenceless humans! There is no challenge, no honour and no glory in it."

"Weaponless?!" Rha growled, waving his arms in amazement "They are humans, vermin, filth. Weaponless or not they have to die! That you would even consider otherwise is bordering on heresy!"

"Our way is the way of honour!" Suyok replied, struggling to keep his voice steady "We-"

"You made the choice to take the surviving vermin prisoner!" Nixan interrupted, stepping up to support Rha and glaring daggers at Suyok "And what's more I hear that you allowed one to live after defeating them on your precious battlefield!"

"Well at least I defeated my opponent, whereas you were beaten like the piddling coward that you are." Suyok hissed, his voice dripping with acid.

A chuckle drifted forth from the onlooking warriors and Nixan growled low in his throat.

"Look at you," Suyok continued, emboldened by his assembled comrades reaction "even now you hide behind another, more powerful warrior. Cowering behind them and, I can only assume, shaking in your boots."

Nixan shrieked in rage and flew forwards, only to be sent flying by Garrak, the massive warrior having pushed his way through the crowd to interrupt the argument.

"Enough!" He roared, gripping Nixan's bicep and swinging him back over towards Rha.

Voro raised himself up with a groan, drawing the attention of the arguing Sangheili. A brief, shocked silence settled over the group and it was several moments before Rha broke it.

"Brother!" He cried, stepping forwards before stopping to eye Suyok and Garrak with a gaze full of distrust.

"I am fine." Voro replied, though his injured body disagreed "What is going on?"

He gestured to the four Sangheili and all of them but Garrak glanced nervously down at their feet. Voro growled at them and took a step forwards, resisting the urge to reach out and steady himself against something.

"Tell me now." Voro said, his voice low and dangerous "What in the Prophet's name are you doing, standing about arguing like children whilst we sit in the middle of our sworn enemies most heavily defended planet?!"

"Sir," Suyok began, straightening his back "with all due respect there is no danger here, we have-"

"No danger?!" Nixan scoffed, before being silenced with a mere glance from the imposing Garrak.

"Brother," Rha cut in, stepping forwards as Garrak stomped over to stand by Voro "Suyok has allowed a contingent of human filth to live. After the battle for the Southern Entrance he ordered that several of their number be taken prisoner, including one that fought him in single combat."

"This goes against everything that we hold sacred." Nixan added, stretching the arm that Garrak had swung him by "They need to be put to death, they should have been killed in the first place."

"With all due respect sir," Suyok responded, looking very nervous after Rha and Nixan's explanations "they were defeated, this contingent of filth are the injured and dying remnants of warriors who fought to the last to defend their objective. To kill them would have been-"

"I've heard enough." Voro ordered, waving his hand to cut Suyok off "I'll deal with these prisoners later, first I wish to know the status of our company and the Demons who escaped us."

Garrak cleared his throat from behind Voro before bellowing at the Sangheili who had been watching the argument and occasionally sniggering.

"Everyone get back to work!" He yelled, handing out a series of orders until the assembled warriors had all been distracted with various tasks.

During the ensuing hustle and bustle Voro approached the Prophet's Eye, motioning for Suyok, Rha and Nixan to follow him. Garrak joined them after the courtyard had returned to its normal state of activity and clapped Voro lightly on the arm, making it look far more aggressive then it actually was.

"I am glad to see that you are well my old friend," he smiled, as Suyok, Nixan and Rha avoided eye contact with one another "not many could take the beating that you did and come out alive."

"Thank you Garrak," Voro replied "I appreciate your concern."

It was an unusual display of affection for two Sangheili warriors, but Voro and Garrak had been friends for years, having slogged their way through innumerable battles together, and they had each saved the others' life an uncountable number of times.

There was no one that Voro trusted more then Garrak and he was grateful for the constant support that the massive warrior had lent him in the years since he had begun commanding Dagger Company.

"Now," Voro said, turning to face the others who had gathered around the Prophet's Eye "tell me of the Demons. What happened to them, and for how long was I unconscious?"

"The Demons escaped sir," Suyok reported, with his hands clasped behind his back "we sent several Banshees after them but they shot them down, killing their pilots. After that I deemed it too dangerous to send more men after them and called off the chase."

"Good, I assume that you at least continued to track them?" Voro asked, spreading his hands on the surface of Prophet's Eye and calling it to life.

"I did sir," Suyok nodded, tapping the glass surface and bringing up a projection of the area outside the Southern Entrance "but they entered a canyon system here, and under cover of darkness and a freak storm we lost them."

Voro swore viciously and Suyok, though he knew his commander was not directing the anger at him, flinched anyway.

"I apologise sir, I should have been more diligent in the chase." Suyok said, drawing a look of disgust from Rha.

"Stop your pathetic grovelling," Rha growled "or at least do it with regards to your true mistake."

" _Our_ true mistake," Voro said, interrupting the argument before it could reignite "was to let the Demons live. These... Survivors, are merely unimportant grunts. The Demons are a major threat and whatever their mission, we can only assume that it will have severe consequences for us should they be allowed to complete it."

He looked up from the table and made eye contact with each of his fellow warriors.

"As of right now the Demons are our top priority." Voro ordered, tapping the Prophet's Eye and looking towards Rha and Nixan "Take a group of Unngoy and Sangheili and investigate the area, find their trail and follow it. Take whatever equipment that you need."

Rha glanced at Suyok, and for a moment Voro thought that his brother was going to take another dig at the stand-in commander, but then he nodded and turned on his heel, calling to several other warriors and barking orders at passing Unngoy as Nixan trailed after him.

Voro breathed a sigh of relief, every bone in his body ached, and the last thing that he needed now was a fight with his younger brother. But he couldn't ignore the brewing, or perhaps more accurately the brewed, conflict between two of his best men.

"So," he said, looking up and leaning his elbows on the Prophet's Eye "tell me of these survivors."

Suyok started and Garrak, who was no longer needed to keep the peace now that Rha and Nixan were gone, stopped looming over Voro's shoulder and walked to another side of the Prophet's Eye where he began fiddling with an Arum.

"Most of them are dying sir," Suyok said, after a brief moment of fidgety silence "they are the casualties of the battle. Many of them are missing limbs and many others are burned beyond recovery."

"Most of them... But not all?" Voro inquired, regarding Suyok with a steady gaze.

"It is true that some of them are... Uninjured." Suyok said, contemplating his words carefully "But they had laid down their weapons and were no threat. It would not have been honourable to kill them."

"And what of this human that faced you in single combat?" Voro asked, leaning forward "You seem to have upset Nixan especially here."

Voro smirked slightly as he spoke, not enough for Suyok to notice, but he did catch Garrak's eye briefly and his old friend nodded his head slightly with a twinkle in his eyes. Neither of them liked Nixan much and though he was a good warrior, the fact that he was Rha's closest friend caused Voro no end of trouble and frustration.

"She fought me bravely in single combat despite knowing that it would surely spell death for her." Suyok said, sounding slightly irritated at the mention of Nixan "Needless to say, I beat her. To kill her afterwards would have been dishonourable."

"I have been called dishonourable before." Voro replied, looking at Suyok and noting the battle worn state of his armour "Sometimes being 'dishonourable' is the only way to win."

"But sir!" Suyok cried "That is a lie! You simply have respect for a dangerous enemy, that is not dishonourable, it is-"

"A dangerous enemy." Voro cut in, and Suyok immediately fell silent "You are correct, humans are a dangerous enemy, they are cunning, persistent and manipulative. If you face one in combat I expect you to cut it down."

Suyok looked down in shame, refusing to meet his leader's gaze.

"I understand why you did it Suyok," Voro continued, his voice softening somewhat before growing hard and stern again "if we were warriors of old the honourable thing to do would have been to take prisoner the survivors of a hard fought battle out of respect for their spirit and tenacity. But we are not warriors of old, and humans are most certainly not warriors of old either. They fight for their very survival, they will not respect the kindness that you have shown them here today."

"You have placed this entire company at risk with your actions." Garrak agreed, his low voice rumbling across from the other side of the Prophet's Eye "The uninjured humans will be plotting escape before the week is our and they shall resist us whenever and wherever they can."

Suyok opened his jaws to speak, then worked them for a moment as he tried to think of what to say.

"What would you have me do with them?" He sighed, beaten and certain of the arguments outcome "If you so wish it then I will put them to death sir."

Voro considered the question for a moment. What Garrak had said was true, the humans who could resist them would and dealing with such annoyances would only hamper his mission.

"Kill the injured." He ordered, after a few moments of deliberation "Keep the healthy, they may know things."

"But you said that they were unimportant grunts?" Suyok started, confused.

"I did, but grunts hear things." Voro replied, gesturing to an Unggoy that was going about his work just a little too close to the Prophet's Eye then he needed to "Get what you can out of them, and then rid us of them. In the meantime you may ration the Unggoy's food and water and spread it out between the humans. Choose several warriors to help you. You are dismissed."

"Yes sir, thank you." Suyok replied, sullen at the thought of executing prisoners.

He turned on his heel and strode off, but before he had gone far Voro called out to him.

"Suyok!" He said, causing the young warrior to turn with a start "How long was I out for?"

"Two days sir." Suyok replied.

Voro thanked him and turned back to face Garrak, breathing out a weary sigh and leaning more of his weight onto the table.

"He did good to hold out against Rha and Nixan for that long." Voro said gazing down at the Prophet's Eye as his vision swam.

"Aye, the kid's a good commander and a damn fierce fighter, but he's naive." Garrak agreed, clicking the Arum into its final position and shaking loose the stone at its centre "He still thinks the world is full of justice and honour. I would have thought that this war would have taught him otherwise."

"It will." Voro replied, as his vision steadied "But I do not envy what he is about to do."

"They are a threat to all of us, it has to be done Voro." Garrak warned, glancing about to make sure that no one could hear his commander speak of his true feelings "You should have ordered him to kill all of the humans. But then, you've always been a bit naive as well."

Voro chuckled at Garrak's words, before sighing wearily and tapping the Prophet's Eye. He swiped a few symbols, enlarged a few images and made radio contact with Rha. It was time for them to track down the Demons.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **Date:** 16th of August 2552

 **Time:** 10:00

 **Planet:** Reach

 **Location:** Espoz, New Alexandrian Plateau

 **Mission:** Refuel and reach objective

The early morning sun shone down with a savage ferocity, heating the sandy ground and the surrounding rocks to boiling degrees and shining harshly off of the Warthog's green, plasma scorched chassis.

 _Glug-glug-glug_

The only sound to be heard for miles around was the sloshing of petrol as Connor emptied a large red fuel canister into the Warthog's petrol port. Ravi was leaning against the rear of the vehicle, taking shelter in the shade of the huge chain-gun bolted to the rear platform and Sanya was seated upon one of the nearby orange rocks, apparently oblivious to the harsh rays of the sun that beat down on his head and shoulders.

They were all wearing their helmets, relying on their armour's internal cooling systems to combat the intense heat, save for Ravi, whom had bet Connor that she could hold out longer then he could against the blazing sun.

After ten minutes Connor had conceded defeat and several minutes later Ravi had retreated to the safety of the shade, her pale, brown skin looking slightly too red for the blush she claimed she had and claiming that she still didn't need the helmet.

"So that has to sting right?" Connor asked, as he emptied the contents of the can into the Warthog.

"Not a bit." Ravi replied cooly, scanning the horizon behind them "How are we looking?"

"I am looking fabulous." Sanya rumbled, as heat roiled off of his blazing green armour.

"The engine's still cooked," Connor chuckled, walking around to the bonnet which had been propped open "give it maybe thirty minutes to cool down. Then we should be good."

"Hmph, that's longer then I'd like." Ravi said, fingering her helmet as sweat clung to her forehead.

"Well unless you have some antifreeze hanging around we're just going to have to wait." Connor stated, as the boiling engine pinged and zinged "How's that sunburn?"

"I forgot to pack any extra antifreeze," Ravi said, wiping her short black hair off of her forehead and pulling her helmet on "buuut I did grab a couple of handfuls of armour piercing rounds... Oh and a few grenades too."

Sanya laughed low and deep and Ravi gave an audible sigh of relief as her helmet's cooling systems kicked in. Connor smiled and rolled his eyes, calling up his team mates bio signs on his helmet's HUD.

The words AMBER TEAM appeared in a rectangular box, obscuring the left half of his vision and listing each of his teammates and himself; Ravi-009 (Amber-1), Sanya-105 (Amber-2) and Connor-027 (Amber-3), and their bio signs along with their suits' internal temperatures.

"Forty-three degrees?!" Connor said, whistling in amazement as he saw Ravi's helmet temperature "How are you not melting?"

"Because I'm a badass and you're not." Ravi said smugly, glancing over at Connor who scoffed at her words "Remember, just like in basic training when you were always crying and I wasn't."

"I definitely remember that last part." Sanya laughed, as Connor dismissed his HUD "But I think I have you both beat."

"In which part, the badassery or the crying?" Connor asked, drawing a laugh from Ravi.

"Uh... Wait.. No.." Sanya stumbled, as his teammates laughed "It does not matter, I am the best. At all the parts."

"So what's the plan once we reach New Alexandria?" Connor asked, before adding "Besides 'finding the Superintendent'."

"We'll make contact with the local forces as soon as possible," Ravi replied, as Connor tossed the now empty fuel can away from them "we'll be needing any information on the state of the city's defences."

"They will not be in good shape." Sanya said, pushing himself to his feet and stretching his arms "Not after a week long Covenant siege."

"Yeah, and we won't actually arrive for at least another few days." Connor added "What happens to our evac plans if there are no local forces?"

"Then we improvise." Ravi shrugged "We hijack a Covenant ship or we stow away on one or maybe even find a UNSC vessel that got overlooked."

"Unlikely," Sanya scoffed, stepping down from his rock "this is Reach, nothing is overlooked."

"Yeah? What about those freighters the resistance stole from dry dock a few months back?" Connor asked.

"That was different." Sanya retorted "In fact, if I recall properly, that was an entirely different planet."

"It was still a highly secure facility, with state of the art security protocols and defensive measures." Connor said, as the Warthog's engine continued to ping in the heat "And they were bypassed by our own rebellion."

"True," Sanya admitted, shrugging his shoulders "and the Covenant will simply glass the entire city once they have what they are after."

"Does glassing a city count as overlooking anything?" Connor wondered "I mean, its not like they target every specific spot in the city?"

"Da, but they do it with great big lasers. Ones that turn _everything_ to glass." Sanya replied "I do not think that that counts as overlooked."

"I was actually thinking that the UNSC might have overlooked some of their own vessels." Ravi cut in, pulling her rifle off of her back and checking it out of boredom "The Covenant can't destroy it if they don't know about it right?"

" _Big lasers_." Sanya repeated, holding his arms comically wide to stress his point " _Everything to glass._ "

"Well the plan is to leave before the big lasers show up." Ravi retorted "Anyway, our plan is to get a lift on one of the civilian evac ships and our latest reports indicate that there have been light skirmishes on the outskirts of the city, no large engagements."

"Our current reports are almost a week old though." Connor said, checking his helmet's long range motion tracker and finding it empty "The city might not be in great shape when we arrive."

"Then that'll just be one more thing to consider." Ravi replied, rolling her shoulders and holstering her rifle "Anyway, the Superintendant is housed beneath the city itself, so we won't have to deal with any surface forces until we're ready for extraction."

"That'll be interesting," Connor chuckled "we could come back up to an entirely different city."

"Da, one that the Covenant own." Sanya said, walking over to the Warthog.

He dropped into the passenger seat and rapped an armour clad knuckle on one of the dashboard's display dials.

"The engine is good to go." He said, leaning back into the seat.

"Then we should get going, before that strike force catches up to us." Ravi replied, pulling herself up onto the gun and motioning for Connor to join them.

"How far behind us do you think they are?" He asked, getting into the drivers seat and hitting the ignition.

"If they even are after us." Sanya added, as the car rumbled to life.

"We have to assume that they are." Ravi said, swinging the gun around as Connor hit the acceleration "Especially after the way that they pursued us back at the gates."

The thick tyres threw up great clouds of dust as the Warthog lurched forwards, leaving a trail of scattered pebbles and dislodged sand in its wake.

"Those Covenant were not normal." Sanya rumbled, as they sped through the desert.

"Yeah, there wasn't single Grunt or Jackal among them." Connor agreed, steering the Warthog left and right to avoid great jutting rocks and steep dips in the ground "They operated differently as well, more strategically then the normal Covenant forces."

"They're dangerous." Ravi said, nodding to herself "But we're a step ahead of them, and as long as we keep it that way we'll be fine."

"And how do we keep it that way?" Sanya asked.

"They'll follow us to New Alexandria," Ravi replied "once we reach the city we'll link up with the local forces and then we can use them to draw attention away from ourselves."

"Huh, they'll be too busy fighting the local marines and UNSC forces to worry about coming after us." Connor said "That's a good plan, but only if those local forces are good enough to keep the Covenant distracted."

"Da, and they will not take kindly to being used as meat shields." Sanya added "They may not want to help us."

"Then maybe we don't tell them that we're going to use them." Ravi replied.

"So we lie to them?" Connor asked, shifting uneasily in his seat.

"Or we tell them nothing in the first place." Sanya rumbled.

"They won't follow us if we tell them nothing." Connor retorted "Marines hate ONI and if we keep them in the dark they may turn on us."

"Turn on Spartans?" Sanya laughed "No, we are heroes. They will follow us."

"Even when they're dying?" Connor asked "If they're going to be our distraction then we can't have them running off at the last second."

"At this point it doesn't matter." Ravi cut in "Like we said before, we don't know what we'll find when we get there. If there are any local forces left then we'll use them, if there aren't then we'll have to steer clear of the Covenant and trust the local terrain to confuse them. Either way, we'll decide on a plan once we know more."

Sanya grunted his agreement and Connor slowly felt the unease that had accompanied the suggestion of using the UNSC soldiers as bait begin subside. The thought or even the act of using fellow soldiers like that wasn't enough to upset him, indeed, Amber Team had done things like that in the past, but sacrificing unknowing soldiers who saw them as saviours was enough to make him think twice.

" _The decision isn't made yet._ " Connor thought, tightening his grip on the steering wheel " _Maybe we won't have to rely on human shields._ "

He knew though, that if they ended up sacrificing their fellow soldiers it would not be without reason, and that if Ravi did indeed decide upon that course of action then they would make every lost life count for something in the future.

" _How does she make those decisions?_ " He thought, wondering how he would cope with the stress of risking the lives of his friends and sending dozens of others to their deaths on the orders of some 'higher up'.

He glanced back at his leader, the woman that he had known and stood by for his entire life, and realised how she could cope with sacrificing all those people for the completion of her mission. Because if she failed, then she would lose the only two people that she could call family, and she would do anything to stop that from happening.

" _I guess that's why she's known as the most brutal Spartan._ " Connor thought, as they drove on towards New Alexandria.

 **Author's Note: Hey guys thanks for reading, I had a bit of trouble writing this chapter towards the end so any advice or feedback you feel like giving will be greatly appreciated. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you'll enjoy this story and continue to read it in the future.**


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